chip dumping final table battle of malta?
I took part in the Battle for Malta, which — in terms of number of entries and prize pool — is by far the most important tournament in the Italian poker circuit, even though it takes place in Malta.
I had the honor of reaching the final table and finished in fourth place, but I found myself in a very unpleasant situation that IÂ’d like to share with you.
The two players involved were extremely strong, among the best in Italy, and also close friends.
The H.U. lasted only a few moments: they quickly made an ICM deal, took their pictures, and went off to celebrate together.
During the breaks, several players at the table had already mentioned some questionable behavior, but at that time I didn’t realize how serious it was — in fact, I even defended my fellow Italians.
Only after watching the live stream did I realize that, beyond the specific hands discussed, there were other ambiguous situations that deserve attention.
To confirm this, even the third-place finisher, Giuseppe Ciancio, commented on my Facebook post, saying that the two players in question were talking during the breaks to coordinate signals — basically to let each other know when they had a hand and when they didn’t, in order to avoid unnecessary clashes or blind losses.
I also shared these observations on major Italian poker forums and social media, but I’ve received very few interactions — only from amateur players, and no response from those who should be addressing the issue.
I even sent emails to both Casino Malta and the tournament organization, but never received a concrete answer, only generic replies.
With 8 players remaining and blinds at 250/500, Andrea Sheva Shehadeh is on the button holding Q♥5♥ with a stack of 11 big blinds.
He opens to 2x against chip leader Cappiello, who defends his big blind with J♦2♦.
The flop comes J♥ 3♠ 7♠; Shehadeh bets 1 million (2 BB) and Cappiello calls.
The turn is 10♥, both players check.
The river is 4♦; Cappiello checks again, and Shehadeh bets almost the size of the pot (around 6 BB).
Cappiello folds his top pair.
📺 The hand can be seen starting at the 43rd minute of the video.
ItÂ’s worth noting that if the bluff hadnÂ’t worked, Shehadeh would have been almost out of the tournament; instead, that hand helped him climb back and eventually finish second overall.
Later on, with higher blinds, Shehadeh once again from the button open-shoves 14–15 big blinds with 4♦4♣.
Cappiello, still the chip leader at the table in both situations, finds A♠J♦ but decides to fold.
📺 This second hand can be seen at 2 hours and 29 minutes in the video.
12 Replies
Unless you have record of collusion, nobody can prove from these two hands anything. Cappiello decided preserve chips over flips, that's possible strategy. With 70 M chips few of these flips could bust him, while waiting for smaller stack bust each other move him up in ladder.
first hand is a bit weird I agree
I'd stop playing against Italians. They are very shady and usually have ties to organized crime.
Really well written first post. Both tone and grammer were perfect.
my experience playing Italians in Malta has been very negative.
They openly collude often, especially if non Italians are present at the table, the games in the Porto Maso casino are the worst in that regard as a lot of the dealers are italian too.
So it wouldn't surprise me at all.
With 8 players remaining and blinds at 250/500, Andrea Sheva Shehadeh is on the button holding Q♥5♥ with a stack of 11 big blinds.
He opens to 2x against chip leader Cappiello, who defends his big blind with J♦2♦.
The flop comes J♥ 3♠ 7♠; Shehadeh bets 1 million (2 BB) and Cappiello calls.
The turn is 10♥, both players check.
The river is 4♦; Cappiello checks again, and Shehadeh bets almost the size of the pot (around 6 BB).
How is this double the size of the pot?
If he started the hand with 11bb he should have 7 bb left and the pot should have 6.5 if no ante.
The second hand- there could be legit reasons for the fold depending on stack sizes.
Second hand is very suspicious too
"A 6 BB bet into an 8.5 BB pot is not "almost the size of the pot. It is a ~70% pot-sized bet.
The bet is, however, almost all-in. He is betting 6 BB out of his 7 BB stack. It is likely the reporter confused "almost pot-sized" with "almost all-in."
Well, at least that's what Gemini thinks. I am glad that we have not to think anymore, as AI does it for us.
By the way I asked for analyze of first hand, but crucial is to know stack size for Cappiello, basically that's what makes hand suspicious or not.
Edit: it's OK, I was confused by birth names and that suits are different.
There is what AI thinks:
This was not a mistake by Cappiello. It was a standard, disciplined fold.
He is not getting insane pot odds, and his hand is purely a bluff-catcher. Given the tournament situation, his default play should be to fold unless he has a very strong reason (a "read") to believe Shehadeh is bluffing.
It was simply a very effective and well-timed bluff by Shehadeh.
Against some opponents you are literally never ahead of this 15bb jam w AJ. But assuming this guy is a pro who will have stuff like JTs and worse Ax in his jamming range and we could expect induce with top of range the fold is super suspicious. But need to know exact stacks of the entire table to make judgment.
Also stop polluting the thread with what a chat model thinks. They dont have a f'n clue about the nuances of poker.
Even when somebody proves that folds were bad ICM wise (which didn't happened so far), it's not against rules. I don't know what can prove soft play or chip dumping, aside of confession or record of collusion (audio, messages, video).
Be a real man and play cash and not donkaments
Looks def suspicious
